BUSINESS – Despite a global boom in sovereign investment activity, Singapore’s two giant state-owned investors Temasek and GIC saw their combined deployments stay largely flat at about US$31 billion in 2025, a performance that bucked the broader trend of rising deals among their international peers, according to a Global SWF report cited by The Business Times. The report, which tracks sovereign wealth funds and public pension investors around the world, showed that overall sovereign investment hit record highs last year, with funds collectively deploying about US$126 billion — a 46 % jump from 2024 levels as global players stepped up their activity.
Within this backdrop of heightened deal-making, Singapore’s GIC and Temasek stood out for maintaining a relatively cautious pace. Combined investment activity by the two funds in 2025 remained steady compared with the year before, even as Gulf and Canadian sovereign investors ramped up deployments significantly.
GIC held the distinction of being the world’s “most prolific co-investor” over the past several years, having put US$44.9 billion into joint deals since 2018 more than any other state investor globally. The fund also participated in one of the year’s largest cross-border transactions, agreeing as part of a consortium with Norway’s NBIM and Dutch pension manager APG to invest up to €9.5 billion (about S$14.4 billion) for a 46 % stake in Germany’s TenneT power grid, spreading the investment over the next four years.
Although their total spend did not rise, GIC and Temasek led in deal volume: they ranked first and second respectively among sovereign investors by number of deals struck in 2025, with GIC completing 60 deals and Temasek 42. This high transaction count suggests a focus on deal-making quality and diversification rather than sheer headline spending growth.
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Temasek, meanwhile, is preparing a significant organisational overhaul scheduled for April 1, 2026, with plans to restructure its operations into three distinct segments Temasek Global Investments, Temasek Singapore and Temasek Partnership Solutions, in what analysts say is its biggest portfolio redesign in more than a decade.
In terms of thematic investment, both Singapore funds also maintained exposure to digitalisation and AI sectors. GIC alone poured roughly US$13.7 billion into digital and AI-related assets in 2025, while Temasek allocated about US$3.5 billion, including about US$2.9 billion in pure AI initiatives.
Temasek and GIC’s measured approach this year, flat total deployment amid a backdrop of global investment growth reflects a more selective strategy rather than a retreat, with continued interest in large-scale, strategic and co-investment opportunities even as peers expand aggressively.
Overall, while headline capital commitments from the two Singapore sovereign investors did not climb, their active deal-making, strong co-investment record and strategic allocations underscore their central role in shaping long-term, diversified portfolios in an evolving global investment landscape.
